Herrschaftspraxis und föderale Beziehungen

In: Regionale Autonomie und postsowjetischer Autoritarismus, Teil 2

In: Berichte des Bundesinstituts für ostwissenschaftliche und internationale Studien, 17-1999

Abstract

In terms of the size of its population and its economic potential the Republic of Bashkortostan is one of the most important regions in the Russian Federation. Oil reserves and a large oil processing industry make it one of the net contributors to the federal tax system. Within the federation Bashkortostan has carved out a position for itself that allows the republic's leadership to operate more or less free of interference from the federal executive. At the same time, the republic's president, Murtaza Rakhimov, has ascended into the ranks of Russia's most influential politicians. Under his leadership Bashkortostan has become one of the most authoritarian regional regimes in Russia; it is also, however, remarkably stable. This two-part report examines the origins of the political regime in Bashkortostan. Part I examines the conditions that have allowed this regime to emerge since the beginning of the 1990s and portrays the new institutional order. Part II of the report analyses the structural features of the republic's political system under its current president and highlights the form that relations with the federal centre have taken as an important underlying condition for the stability of Murtaza Rakhimov's rule. The report is based on analyses of Russian press reports and original documents, the work of Russian social scientists and interviews conducted by the author. (BIOst-Dok)